Nothing But Pennies
by Gailstorm
Summary: London and Sunday's New York story. I'm no good with summaries!
1. Default Chapter

  
  
Nothing But Pennies  
  
By Gailstorm  
  
A/N: The Newsies belong to Disney. However London, Sunday, and other characters not in the original movie belong to me. I got the idea from Mandy Moore's song In My Pocket. She owns the lyrics, not me. Nobody sue, cause they wouldn't get anything any way.  
  
Holden Christopher pulled his thin overcoat a little tighter around him to keep out the cold. The snow was falling harder now and he still had twenty papers left to sell. Trouble was the weather had kept prospective buyers indoors so it was getting more and more difficult to get rid of them. He sighed and trudged through the snow-ridden streets. He had his shoulders hunched over to prevent snow from falling down the back of his coat and shirt. Holden was concentrating so hard on avoiding large snow drifts and crying out inventive headlines that he failed to hear the footsteps behind him, or the words addressed to him. A hand appeared on his shoulder severely startling him. Holden dropped him New York Times newspapers and with an outstretched fist turned and decked his would be attacker. To Holden his action was pure reflex brought about by ten years of street life. He wasn't even aware of who he hit. He turned his attention to the sidewalk where his attacker still lay. On the ground sat a girl in what appeared to be the uniform worn by all cleaning ladies of the Stillwell household. The Stillwells were prominent members of the New York aristocracy. Mr. William Stillwell, master of the estate, earned his millions in the oil business. Holden knew that the women and girls employed by the Stillwells underwent much training and rigorous reference checks, not just anyone could work for the rich family. The girl pushed herself off the ground, brushing the snow from her dress. That's when he noticed that she was only wearing a dress, no coat or wrap to keep her warm. He also noticed that his punch had given her a split lip. She put a hand to her mouth wiping away the blood. In a cautious voice she spoke, " If you please sir, I only wanted to buy a paper." Deeply ashamed that he had hurt the young girl he handed her a paper. Her cold fingers slipped into her apron pocket producing a penny for which to pay him with. Holden shook his head and said, " No, you can have it for free." The girl gave him a shy smile and turned to go back to the warmth of the Stillwell mansion. She was climbing up the steps to the door when Holden yelled, " Hey! What's your name?" She called back, " My name's Sunday, sir!" With that she opened the door and rushed inside.   



	2. Introducing London

  
He decided to give up selling for the day and headed to the distribution office. He would turn in the nineteen papers that he couldn't sell and get his money back. It had been some three months since the famous newsie strike and working conditions were much better. Mr. Weasel, the man who was in charge of distribution, had been carted away by the cops. A much nicer, fairer man named Mr. Johnson replaced him. Newspaper Alley was comparatively empty with only one or two other newsies hanging around, both of which he didn't know. Holden figured that they were all indoors where everyone else with good sense could be found. Mr. Johnson reimbursed him for the nineteen papers and he took off in the direction of the lodging house to warm up. The house was home to all the Manhattan newsies and was run by an elderly man named Kloppman. The wind was blowing harder and the snow swirled around him making vision almost impossible. Finally, fighting the elements the entire way, he was home and glad to be there. He pushed the doors open and was immediately welcomed by the wonderful heat that the building provided. He gave Kloppman a quick hello and bounded up the stairs. The main room where the bunk beds where located was filled with newsies. There were groups of them playing cards and smoking, some where trying to sleep, and a couple like him were trying to get warm. When he entered the room two of the boys' playing cards stopped and greeted him. " Hey, London! You been trying to sell papes in this kinda weather?!?" That came from Racetrack a proficient gambler. Race especially loved to bet on horses, hence his name. Holden answered back, " Yeah, I was tryin." A boy with a black eye patch shouted," London, where ya been?" Holden replied," Been selling papers of course, Blink." Once all the hellos died down he made his way to his bunk bed. He climbed up to the top bunk and took off his wet shoes. He shared the bunk with his best friend Mush who slept on the bottom. It took a few minutes for him to properly thaw out and when he felt warm enough he joined one of the poker games. He wasn't particularly that good at the game it was just something to pass the time. After three games all of which he lost his friend Mush walked in. His lips were blue, he was shivering violently, and he was coatless. Holden jumped up, grabbed his still drying overcoat and gave it to Mush. " Where's your coat?" he demanded. Mush gave him a sheepish look and shrugged his shoulders. " You mean you lost your coat!" Holden yelled once again. Mush shook his head no and finally spoke up," I gave it away. It didn't feel so cold earlier and I met this girl... she looked so cold...." This made him think guiltily of the house girl and his anger died down. Mush muttered," Sorry, London" Holden felt bad and told him," Don't worry. You can have mine. I got enough money to get another one." Mush thanked him and joined a poker game still wearing his coat. The newsies had given him the name London years ago when he first joined their ranks. He had come to Ellis Island with his father from England. The newsies had found his accent funny and so named him London, even though he had never lived there.   
He discovered that he was thoroughly exhausted and decided to call it a day. Not even bothering to change clothes he slipped into bed and pulled the thin sheets around him. It wasn't long before he was fast asleep. The sounds of loud thumping, banging, and yelling brought him back to consciousness. Holden rubbed his eyes and sat up looking around to see who was making all the noise. The other newsies had confused expressions on their faces as well. The banging got louder as the person neared the door of their room. To everyone's utmost amazement Spot Conlon burst inside. He was breathing heavily and his eyes blazed. He was covered with snow and his face looked as though he had suffered from serious windburn. Spot was the leader of the Brooklyn newsies and he often visited them but never in such a state of anger. He usually came to talk to Jack, their leader, but Jack was away visiting his friend David Jacobs. Race stood up, because he was the appointed leader in Jack's absence, and said," Hello Spot, for what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" Conlon took another step into the room and the newsies cleared a path for him. He yelled loudly, " Which one of you... you goons decked my sister?!??" The look on the Manhattan newsies had changed from confusion to fright and back to confusion again in less than three minutes. It was news to everyone that Spot had a sister. Race spoke up again, " Well maybe if we knew her name? I don't that us respectable gentlemen would ever mistreat a lady. Would we guys." Their was a chorus of no's and certainly nots. Conlon glared at Race who was obviously pushing his luck and said a shade more quietly, " Her name is Sunday and somebody here gave her a split lip." Holden groaned upon hearing the last bit of information and lay as flat as he could against the bed. Now was not the time to mess the Brooklyn leader, and he was still so tired. He heard the angry boy yell, " I ain't going nowhere until somebody tells me something." Holden sighed, but knew what he had to do. He would just give it over with so he could sleep. He sat up and hopped off the bed. " Alright, alright give it a rest Conlon. It was me okay, but the whole thing was an accident really." He would have gone into detail but Spot came running at him.   
  



	3. Confrontations

  
  
He balled his hands into fists to protect himself from Conlon's certain attack. Spot rammed him in the stomach with his shoulder causing him to fall down. Before Holden could move into a more secure position a hand came out of nowhere and punched him squarely in the mouth. Another blow to the stomach made him double over in pain. Spot Conlon was a lot stronger than he looked. It was at that moment that Mush decided to join in the fight. He hadn't intended on fighting just splitting them up, but Spot hauled off and punched Mush. Then of course he had to retaliate. The room erupted into a bar room brawl. In that time Holden was on his feet again trying to stop all the fighting. He thought it was a bit unfair all those boys against Spot. The boy was holding his own though, surrounded by at least ten people. He had to end this and was thinking of how to do it safely when a fist connected with his eye. He spluttered wildly looking at his assailant, a small boy about eleven years old. " Snip?" he questioned," What'd you do that for?" Snip had only been a newsie for two weeks. The younger boy's cheeks turned bright red and he stuttered," S...Sorry." Snip scampered away in fear as though Holden was going to kill him or something. Obviously he had gotten caught up in the fighting and had not realized what he was doing. He rubbed his eye and decided that enough was enough. He screamed at the top of his lungs, " EVERYBODY STOP!" The whole bunch stopped what they were doing and stared at him. He said quietly," This is crazy! I need to have a talk with Conlon outside. The rest of you guys cut it out and go to bed or something!" He walked out of the room and sat down on the first step of the stairs.   
Seconds later Spot joined him on the steps. Holden looked at him and said irritably," Now will you listen to me?" He nodded slowly and waited for Holden's explanation. He told him that the whole thing was an accident. He would never hurt her or any girl on purpose. He didn't even know that he had a sister. To that Spot responded, " It's somethin' that I try to keep secret. Can't have everybody knowin' the Leader of the Brooklyn newsies has a kid sister." Holden was still angry that his sleep had been interrupted and said to Spot," If you were any kind of an older brother you'd make sure your sister had a proper coat to keep her warm in this winter weather." Conlon did nothing but give him such a glare that told him he was pushing his luck. They declared a delicate truce, but Spot didn't apologize for his actions. Holden invited him to stay at the lodging house, because it was much too cold for him walk back to Brooklyn. Both tired beyond words Holden opened the door to the bedroom, and as he did so several newsies fell to the floor. Mush, Race, and Kid Blink looked up at them embarrassed, and Spot muttered, " The Manhattan newsies sure are a nosy bunch." Holden walked to his bed and realized for the first time that his lip was bleeding. Well, at least he and Sunday were even now. Spot found himself an empty bed and slid into it. The other newsies looked at them shocked while they both drifted off to sleep.   



End file.
